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'W. I. ELLIS. Machine for Backing Books.

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v I Machine for BackingIBooks.v No. 237,840..

Patented Feb il iin/asses N. PETERS. FHOTO-LITHOGRAPNER. WASHINGION. D C.

' UNITED STATES PATENT @rrteta.

WILLIAM F. ELLIS, ()F NEWV YORK, N. Y.

MACHINE FOR' BACKING BOOKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of. Letters Patent No. 237,840, dated February 15, 1881.

Application filed August 31, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom t't'mag concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. ELLIS, of-

New York, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Machinesfor Backing Books, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of bookbinding machines for forming the backs of books preparatory to securing on the covers, as illustrated in the United States Letters Patent No. 9,886, grantedto J. A. Elder, July 26, 1853, and N 0. 171,366, granted to J E. Coffin, December 21, 1875,'and has for its object to increase the effectiveness of such machines and the working capacity by lessening the labor required to operate the variousdevices thereof, and to enable the same to be readily changed from a power to a hand machine, and vice versa.

My various improvements in book-backing machines may be formulated as follows:

First, in connecting the toggle-levers of the movable book-holding jaw to the foot-lever through the medium of a system of compound levers, whereby the said toggles may be made longer than heretofore, and consequently more effectually utilize the force applied to the footlever.

Secondly, in an adjustable buffer-stop against which the forming-roller frame comes in contact when thrown back out of the way to allow of change of book in the holding-jaws. The adjustability of this bufferstop is for the purpose of enabling it to be raised to prevent the roller-frame falliu g over farther than is necessary to allow the book to be placed between the jaws, so that the thinner the book to be backed the less distance the attendant has to lift the roller-frame to its work.

Thirdly, in the application of eccentrics for forcing the forming-roller down onto the back of the book, said eccentrics being secured to a shaft, which is caused to partly rotate by means of a foot-lever connected thereto by an adjustable'rod;

Fourthly, in'a simple and effective means for holding both the foot-levers down in their lowest positions and for releasing them when it is desired to release the devices connected to them, the sameconsisting of hanging latches provided with lugs arranged to catch over the V tops of the foot-levers when they are pressed down and weighted levers which project beyond the foot-levers,which, when depressed, act' against an incline plane on each of the hanginglatches and cause the lugs thereon to move clear of the foot-levers, allowing them to move in an upward direction.

Fifthly, in a novel application of segmental gear-wheels to operate the forming-roller by power connected to the crank on the drivingshaft by a connecting-rod, and so formed that the forming-roller is caused to move over the back of the book at a more uniform rate of speed than if operated directly from the crank, thereby causing it to more perfectly perform its work as the roller passes quickly over the edges of the back of the book.

Sixthly, in a simple device for disconnecting the power-driving gear from theforming-roller frame, which consists of a spring for holding the driving segmental gear which is connected to the crank up to the segmental gear on the roller-frame, and an eccentric or cam for depressingsaid spring, thereby allowing the driving-gear to fall clear of the roller-gear, thus converting the machine into a hand-working machine.

Seventhly, in connecting the belt-shifter or power-starting device to the foot-lever, which brings the forming-roller into position and forc'es it down onto the book-back, thereby saving the attendant one operation in operating the machine and saving considerable time, as the forming-roller commences to form the back of the book the instant it is brought into position to so act, and is stopped by the foot-lever being released, which at the same time allows the forming-roller to fall back out of the way to permit the book to be removed from the jaws.

5 To describe my invention more particularly, to enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, I will now refer tothe accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, in which Sheet 1, Figure 1, is a side elevation of a book-backing machine embodying my invention. Sheet 2, Fig. 2, is a front elevation of the same with a part of the frame-work broken away to more clearly show some of the mechanism. Sheet 3, Fig. 3, is a longitudinal vertieal sectional elevation, looking at the machine in the same direction asinFig.1. Sheet 4, Fig. 4, is a detached view of the device for operating the driving-clutch. Sheet 4, Fig. 5, is a plan view of the machine.

The two side frames, at a, are connected together by the girder a at their upper back corners, by the girder a at their lower back corners, by the rod to at the upper front corners, and by the girder a at about the center of the front sides.

The holding-jaws b and b are hinged on the rod N, which is carried in the frame 0, provided with end pieces fitted to slide vertically in openings in the front parts of the side frames, a and a. This frame 0 is provided with two incline bearing-projections, which rest upon the wedges c 0, connected together and made to slide horizontally in the opening in the side frames immediately under the frame 0. The position of the wedges c c in relation to the frame 0 is governed by a screw, 0 which is fitted to rotate only in a slotted hole in a bracket projecting from one of the wedges c by means of a collar on it and a hand-wheel secured to its end. The threaded portion of the screw 0 works in a tapped hole in one of the end pieces of the frame 0. The jaws are set to required height to give the proper radius and form to the back of the book clamped between them by turning the screw 0 and so moving the wedges c c more or less under the incline bearing-projectious on the frame 0, and the wedges are prevented from sliding away from the incline projections of the frame 0 (which movement is due to the jarring ot' the machine while in operation) by means of the ratchet-wheel d, secured to the screw 0 being held to oppose the turning backward of the screw by a spring-acting pawl, d, pivoted on the bracket holding the screw. The wedges do not rest immediately upon any fixed portion of the side frames, but upon the caps of the springs (1 (1 which are adjusted by screws working into their seats and resting on the bottoms of the opening in the side frames. These springs admit of jaws b 1) giving to a certain extent while a book held between them is being acted upon by the forming-roller, as will be hereinafter described.

The front jaw, b, has connected to its sides the rods 1) b the other ends of which are connected to a block, b, fitted to slide in the interior of the upper back girder, M, which is cast hollow, and is also provided with a central opening, through which passes the double-face wedge 0. The rear face of this wedge acts against the block b, and the front face of it acts against the block 0, which is connected to the back jaw, b, by means of the togglelevers f f. The blocks 1) and e are held against the double-face wedge e by the springs c 0 The space between thejaws b and b is regulated to adapt them to gripe books of different thickness by raising or lowering the denble-faced wedge e, which moves the two jaws b and 1) equally from or to a fixed center line, the front jaw, I), through the medium of the block and the rods 1) b and the back jaw, I), through the medium of the block 0 and toggle-leversff, the toggle-leversff being in a straight line when thejaws are so adjusted.

The wedge e is provided at its apex or upper end with the screw 0 which fits into a tapped hole in the hand-wheel e fitted to rotate in a bearing in the arched standard 0 secured to the top of the girder a. This wedge, while the machine is in operation, is very liable to slide downward between the blocks b and c, the hand-wheel e turning from the jarring of the machine, and so necessitates a continual readjustment of the jaws b and I), to enable ,them to properly gripe the books between;

and to obviate this objectionable feature I provide the hand-wheel c with a ratchet-wheel, 0, into the teeth of which catches the point of a sprin g-actin g pawl pivoted to the arched standard 0", and so prevents the hand-wheel turning backward and the wedge e falling until the pawl is removed from the teeth of the ratchet-wheel 0 hen the jaws I) b are properly adjusted to gripe the book, asjust described, the back jaw, b, is moved away from the front jaw, b, to admit of the book being placed between them by moving the center joint of the toggle-levers f f upward and the book clamped firmly between the jaws and b by bringing the toggle-levers ff again in a straight line, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, which is done by the following system of compound levers: The upper end of the rod f is pivoted to the centerjoint ot' the toggle-levers ff and its lower end to the arm or lever f which is fitted to turn freely on the center of the shaft 9, and to the extreme end of the arm f is pivoted the rod the lower end of which fits over a stud placed in a slotted hole in the foot-lever or treadlef. The back end of this foot-lever f works on a bolt placed through ears on the lower back girder, a and the front end of it passes through a slot in a downwardly-projccting portion of the front girder, a said end being shaped to receive the foot of the operator. The rod f is provided with aturn-buckle, which, with the slotted hole in the foot-lever permits of the proper adjustment of the opening and closing of the jaw 11, and of the right amount of movement of the foot-lever to so open and close it. The jaw 11 is opened by the center joint of the toggle-levers f f moving upward through the medium of the rod f arm f rod f and foot-lever f by means of the spring f, which is secured to the girder a and is under the foot-lever, as shown, so as to be out of the way. It is made in leaves of thin steel bars, and consequently much more durable than the ordinary bow-sprin gs heretofore used to raise the foot-levers of this class of machines.

The foot-lever f when pressed down, as

shown in the drawings, is so held by means of the latch h, which is pivoted at its upper end to the girder a and is provided with a lug, h, to catch over the top of the foot-lever. The latch h is so shaped or weighted to cause the lug to catch over the foot-lever, or it may be provided with a spring, If, to insure its proper working. The part of the latch below the foot-lever is shaped with an incline or camprojection, against which the releasing foottreadle h pivoted to the girder a as shown in Fig. 3, is caused to act when pressed down by the foot of the operator, and so moving the latch sidewise and releasing the foot-lever f of the lug h, thereby allowing the foot-lever to be raised by the springf and so open the jaws, as before described. The foot-treadle ha is weighted at its inner end to keep it clear of the incline projections on the latch h, excepting when pressed down. Fig. 2 shows clearlythe construction of the latch h and releasing-treadle [L and also a duplication ot'the same, which is similarly marked by the reference-letters, and which operates in the same manner to hold down the other foot-lever, whose function will be hereinafter described.

The object and advantage of the compoundlever arrangement connecting the foot-lever with the toggle-levers ffis to enable the toggle-levers to be made of greater length than heretofore, as the angle assumed by the arms ofthelong toggle is less than that assumed by the arms of a shorter toggle to open thejaws b and b a given distance, and thereby reducing the pressure necessary to be applied. to the foot-lever to properly clamp the book, which is shown at 2, Fig. 3, the compound lever and rods allowing the connection to be made in a proper manner and avoid the other parts of the machine. i

The rod f, on account ofbeing farther from the shaft 9 than is the rod f, is necessarily attached to the foot-leverf at a greater distance from its fulcrum than is the corresponding rod of similar machines which connect the foot-lever directly with the toggles; and also because of the increased movement of the centerjoint of the long toggles, as applied to this machine, over the movementrequired to open the short toggles the same distance.

The shaft 9, before spoken of as forming the support for the arm f, is also utilized as follows: It is fitted to oscillate in brackets g I g, which are secured to the insides of the side frames, a and a, and they are made adjustable, as shown, to level up this shaft and the devices connected thereto. In the first place the arm 9 is rigidly secured to it,the end of which is connected to the foot-lever 9 by means of the rod 9 provided with a turn-buckle to vary its length to adjust the position of the footlever g with the other devices connected to and actuated by the shaft g, and to set the eccent-ricst' i in such relation to the foot-leverg that the limit of their movement is reached just before their centers get in line with the rods i t", when the foot-lever is depressed to its lowest position. Otherwise, if they reached the center line or moved beyond it, they would prevent the spring from raising the footlever and turning the eccentrics to raise the forming-roller off the book in thejaws b b, as the weight of the forming-roller frame, when thrown into its backward position, is required to assist the spring 9 in raising the foot-lever and moving the eccentrics. This foot-lever g? is connected at its rear end to the girder a and has a spring, 9 for raising it, similar to the sprin g f in construction and application. The front end of the foot-lever passes through a slot in the girder (0 parallel to the slot through which the foot-leverf passes, and it is held down by the duplicate of the latch h, before spoken of, as shown in 2;

Secured to the ends of the shaft g, between the brackets g g and side frames, at and a, are the eccentrics i i. The eccentric-rods z" i stand in about a vertical position, and their upper ends are pivoted to the rear ends of the levers i V, which are constructed to oscillate on studs projecting inwardly from the side frames, a and a. The front ends of these 1e.- vers i i are provided with hearings, in which fit short shafts or studs secured to the side piecesjj of theforming-roller frame. Said side pieces are held together by the bolt-rodsj j, and they are provided with sliding boxes, which carry the forming-rollerj' which, when the frame j j is in a vertical position, stands directly over the center of the space between thejaws b and b, as shown in Fig. 3, and it is adjusted to bear on the back of the book held between thejaws by means of set-screws acting on the top of the sliding boxes in the side pieces, jj.

The position occupied by the forming-roller frame shown in Fig. lis when the roller j is raised off the book and the frame allowed to fall back out of the way, the upper bolt-rod,j,

then coming in contact with the buffer-stop k,

against which it rests. This stop is provided with an elastic. cushion on its upper surface,

and is supported in a, socket, 76, forming a part of the arched standard 6 By means of apin. k which passes through a hole in the socket is, and through one of the holes made through the stem' of the stop, and by means of these holes in the stem, the stop may be set at different heights, and so govern the distance the forming-roller frame is allowed to fall over, and consequently the,dista-nce the formingroller j moves away from the opening between thejaws b and b, for the thinner the book being backed the less distance the roller j has to move to allow it to be placed between the jaws, and by preventing the frame j j falling over farther than is necessary the work of the attendant in bringing the roller to its work is no more than is necessary when the machine is used as a hand-machine, such use calling for the attendant grasping the top rod,j, in his hand and working the frame backward and forward until the roller j has given the right IIS shape to the back of the book, be having previously pressed the roller j down into posit-ion by forcing the foot-lever g down with his foot until it is retained by the latch Ii, which causes the shaft 9 to partly rotate, raising the rear ends of the levers 41 through the medium of the eccentrics i t and eccentric-rods i i, and lowering their front ends with the roller-frame j j, as shown at Fig. 3. .By pressing on the foot-lever 7&3 the foot-lever g is released and moved up by the spring 9 and raises the roller 3' from the book, the framejj being allowed to fall back onto the buffer-stop k.

The manual labor required to operate the forming-roller, as before described, in this class of machines as heretofore constructed is considerable and the amount of work performed limited. I lessen this labor, and consequently increase the amount of work performed in the machine, by counterbalancing the formingroller 7' and its frame by securing to the side pieces,j 7', or casting therewith, the enlarged lower ends, j j

The device for operating the forming-roller by power consists of the shaft 1 running in bearings provided therefor at the back of the side frame, a and a, on which is the pulley 6, connected by a belt to the motive power and running loose on the shaft 1, but connected thereto to impart rotary motion to it, as de sired, by means to be hereinafter described. On one end of the shaft l, projectingbeyond the sideframe, a,is secured the crank m, which, by means of the connecting-rod m, is connected to the segmental gear-wheel n to impart to it an oscillating motion when the shaft l with the crank m revolves. The segmental gear-wheel a has its working center at the fewer end of a slot in which fits a stud, n, secured to the side frame, a, and it is held up so that the lower end of the slot is against the stud n by means of the flat spring 0, secured to a projection from the frame a at the lower rear portion thereof.

0n the end of the short shaft or stud secured to the side piece, j, ofthe forming-roller frame, and which passes through the bearing in the front end of the lever i is secured the segmental pinion 1), into the teeth of which the teeth of the segmental wheel a just engages when the wheel a is held up by the spring 0, and before the forming-roller j is brought down into position to operate on the book, as shown at Fig. 1; but the teeth fully engage when the forming-roller is in position to work, and are prevented from bottoming by smooth bearing-edges formed on the pitchlines of the wheel n and pinion 1). It will thus be seen that a reciprocating motion is imparted to the forming-roller j upon power being applied to the shaft l, causing the roller to move over the back of the book 2 held in the jaws b and 1), giving thereto a rounded form, the roller moving in an arc the radius of which equals the distance between the center of the pinion p and the forming-roller, which is adjustable, as before described, to adapt its movement to the work to be done.

The pitch-line of thcteeth of the pinionis not a true circle struck from the center of its motion, but it has a less radius at the ends 1) than at the central portion, 11 the efi'ect; of which is that it travels faster when the ends are being acted upon by the teeth of the wheel a in relation to the speed of the wheel it than when the central portion of it is in gear, thereby causing the forming-roller j to roll over the back of the book at nearly a uniform rate of speed throughout its movement, or to move with an increased speed when passing over the edges of the book, which enables it to form the back better and quicker than if it traveled slow when so passing over the edges. It is evident that the pitch-circle ofthe pinion 1) may be a true circle, and the pitch ofthe wheel a irregular, or they may both be irregular, the spring 0 in either case acting to keep the bearing-ledges of the wheel and pinion in contact.

To disengage the power-working attachment to convert the machine into a hand-working machine all that is necessary to do is to raise the handle 1' of the eccentric r into a vertical position, thus causing the eccentric r to depress the spring 0 and allow the segmental gear-wheel a to fall down by reason of its slotted center bearing, and leaving the pinion 12 free, so that the forming-roller frame may be actuated by hand,as before described.

Instead of the segmental gear having a slotted bearing and supported by the spring 0, a sliding spring-box may be fitted in the side frame to which it is pivoted.

Motion is imparted to the forming-roller at the same time that theforniingrolleris brought into position to act on the book, and is stopped when the forming-roller is thrown back clear of the book by operating the clutch or shifting device of the shaft 5 by means of the same foot-lever, 9 used to control the setting of the roller-frame.

The clutch is shown as a friction-clutch, s, fitting the inside of the rim of the pulley Z. This clutch s is caused to rotate with the shaft by a spline and slot, but is free to be moved longitudinally thereon, so as to engage and disengage with the pulley. This longitudinal movement is obtained by means of the forked lever 8, fitting at its ends into a groove formed in the hub of the clutch s. This lever is fastened to the end of a short shaft fitted in the standard t, projecting up from the girder a, and to the other end of the short shaft is secured the lever or arm a, which, in its turn, is connected to the foot-lever by means of the rod 1;, which is made adjustable as toitslength to cause the clutch to properly gripe in the rim of the pulley when the foot-lever is pressed down.

I wish it understood that I do not claim, broadly, the general construction and arrangement of the various mechanical devices constituting a book-backing machine; but

What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a book-backing machine, the bookholding device consisting of the following elements, viz: the jaws b and b, the toggle-levers f, connected by the adjustable rodf to the lever f fitted to oscillate on the shaft 9, the rod f connecting the lever f to the foot-lever f, a lockin g device constructed to hold the footlever down in itslowest position, and the spring f, for raising it and opening the jaw 1), constructed and combined substantially in the .manner described.

2. The adjustable buffer-stop 7c, in combination with the forming-roller frame j j, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

3. The foot-lever 9 the spring g adjustable rod 9 and arm g connected to the rockshaft g, in combination with the eccentrics t i, also connected to the rock-shaft g, the eccentric-rods 11 'i, the arms 43 i and the formingroller frame j j, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

4. In a device for holding down the clampin g and the forming roller pressure-foot levers of a book-backin g machine, the hanging latches h 71., provided with lugs to catch over the footlevers, and incline projections at their lower ends, in combination with small weighted footlevers h its, so arranged that when depressed they act against the incline projections and clear the foot-levers of the lugs on the latches 71 h, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

5. 1n a power attachment for book-backing machines, the segmental gear n, operated to oscillate by suitable means, in combination with the segmental pinion 1), attached to the forming-roller frame, the relative pitch radii of different corresponding parts of them being such that an irregular movement is imparted to the forming-roller frame, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

6. The segmental gear n, operated to oscillate by suitable means to impart motion to the forming-roller frame, in combination with the supporting-spring 0 or other device adapted to be' depressed, thereby allowing the segmental gear at to fall away from the gear 19 on the roller-frame, permitting the same to be worked by hand, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

7. In combination, the crank m, connectingrod m, segmental gear at, segmental pinion 19, roller-framejj, and spring 0, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

8. The combination of the segmental pinion 19, attached to the roller-frame j j, the segmental gear n, with the spring 0 and eccentric 1", substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

9. The combination of the belt shifter or clutch of the driving-shaft of a book-backing machine, with the foot-treadle which is actuated by the attendant to move the formingroller to its work, so that the forming-roller is caused to commence operating as soon as it is brought into the right position, and ceases operating when moved away, to allow of removal of book by the attendant releasing said footlever, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

10. The foot-lever 9 connected to the forming-roller frame jj, substantially in the manner specified, in combination with the lovers u s and clutch s, as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of August, A. D. 1880.

WILLIAM F. ELLIS.

In presence of-- MICHAEL OGORMAN, JOHN D. SHEnLocK, 

